4.5 stars. "Don't Let the Forest In" is an absolutely masterful and chilling piece of atmospheric horror that completely consumed me. The author weaves an incredibly potent sense of dread and unease from the very first page, making the forest feel like a living, breathing, malevolent entity. The escalating tension is expertly handled, building to a truly terrifying climax that left me breathless. I was utterly captivated by the unique mythology and the way the psychological elements intertwined with the supernatural. This book is a triumph in building suspense and creating an indelible sense of place, leaving an unforgettable imprint. My only thought, if I had to find one, is that I wished I could have stayed in its terrifying embrace just a little longer. Truly exceptional and highly recommended for anyone who loves their horror deeply unsettling and brilliantly crafted.

disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review

3.5 stars

content warnings: gore, body horror, blood, death, body mutilation, self harm, murder, homophobia, bullying, death of parents

rep: gay asexual m/c, bi (?) LI, m/m romance

Don't Let The Forest In is a queer eerie horror novel set in a boarding school where every night monsters that have been put onto paper are coming to life in the forest near the school. Throughout this novel there is a sense of impending doom & foreboding. I struggled a bit with this novels slow pace - the ending is what saved this novel for me, personally. It is a story of obsession & grief & the how confusing and isolating your teenage years are & how that is portrayed through storytelling & art & in Don't Let The Forest In we see how this is manifested in the real world, creating monsters. I loved the illustrations throughout the novel - a work of art really that really added to the atmosphere.

Personally, I am starting to struggle through YA novels, so this novel isnt quite the hit I wanted but thats a personal issue & years ago I'd have really devoured it- i have already added C.G Drews adult horror onto my wishlist.

Dark academia meets YA horror. This one is perfect for those who enjoy:
- isolated academic settings
- fantasy meets Gothic
- queer relationships
- dark fairytales
- cottagegore
- poetic prose

Many thanks to @netgalley and @hachettekids.

This is literally perfection. I could not put it down, from start to finish it absolutely blew me away and I love my chaotic trouble broken boys

this was spooky and absolutely perfect. i am truly obsessed and this was incredible for a debut. i can’t wait for what’s to come)!!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. The writing was almost lyrical which added to the story. I loved the drawings and short stories that were involved to guide the book as well. I am still thinking about the ending and the implications of what happened. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes gothic / dark fairy tales. I would read more by this author.

I really wanted to love this one as I enjoyed the author's previous books, but I found the story a little to cringey for my liking, and it wasn't making a whole lot of sense to me. The ending plot twist was interesting, but not enough to save it.

Creepy, atmospheric and a thrilling tale, this book is great for anyone wanting a good queer horror story. It is twisted and disturbed and just as creepy as one of Andrew’s stories.

The only thing I found was that the relationships didn’t have time to build up before they were pulled apart. I found this both with Andrew and Thomas and with Andrew and Dove. I feel like more flashbacks would have been useful to show us the relationships rather than just telling us that they were close.

The ending was a lot. I guessed some of it but wasn’t expecting it to end how it did. It was not for the faint hearted!!

Overall, I enjoyed it!

A novel that will stick with me for a long time!

It has been a while since I read something so visceral that it made me uneasy. From beginning to end, I felt like I walked into an atmospheric nightmarish dream that made me consider the emotions I was experiencing while reading. The only thing that threw me off was the open ending. The story was so layered and complex that I wish the conclusion was more concrete in explaining what the reader experienced.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of the title.

YA horror with queer and asexual characters,,SOLD!

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, who felt dimensional with a natural development throughout the novel, which truly aided in the enjoyment of this story. The representation of asexuality was fantastic also and the tension between Thomas and Andrew was unbelievably heartbreaking and sweet.
The pacing was fantastic and was so easy to devour, and I would definitely recommend to any who enjoy YA horror. I would say that it is important to go in remembering it is YA as the characters definitely read as that age if you are reading this as an adult.

A gripping and utterly enthralling novel from Drews that will take you by the throat until the last page. Every sentence is as sharp as a knife, and I couldn't put it down once I started. This is a story that will haunt me for a long time.

DNF at 10%

I'm afraid this one wasn't for me - I could tell early on from the writing style and the characters. I think this one will find its audience with people who enjoy boarding school stories and contemporary YA that are looking to dip a toe into horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Hodder Children’s Books for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: abuse, body horror, gore, death, bullying, self harm, blood, panic attacks

Andrew Perrault has always found sanctuary in the dark and twisted stories he writes, especially because he’s writing them only for one person- his best friend Thomas Rye. This is a boy who takes Andrew’s words and turns them into beautiful, haunting art, seeming to understand everything Andrew is trying to say without any effort. After a summer of isolation and misery at home, Andrew is eager to return to his boarding school, Wickwood Academy, even if his twin sister Dove is barely speaking to him. Reunited for their senior year, Andrew discovers that Thomas has changed- his abusive parents have gone missing, he arrived at the school with blood on his clothes but worst of all he’s no longer interested in his art. He refuses to talk to Andrew and spends all his time lurking in the forest, haunted and ignoring the attention of the police seeking his parents. Determined to discover what’s wrong with his beloved friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the forest one night- and discovers him battling a monster from Thomas’ drawings. It turns out that everything Andrew has written that Thomas turned into art has come to life, and is now killing anyone Thomas is close to. Forced to battle these monsters nightly, Andrew and Thomas grow even more obsessed and intertwined with each other. Unfortunately, this makes the monsters even stronger, and soon enough Andrew has to consider the possibility that the only way to end this is to kill the monsters’ creator: Thomas.

This book is so dark and gorgeously written, it makes you want to wander into the forest and just get lost. I first wanted to read this book because of this gorgeously haunting cover, but I was pulled in by the atmosphere and tension of Andrew and Thomas’ deeply codependent and beautiful relationship and the horror that they find in the woods. One of the highlights of this for me is that Andrew is asexual, but he’s also in love with Thomas and gradually coming to realise what it is he wants- as someone who is ace, I resonated and related to him so much, especially because he’s really trying his best. The connection Thomas and Andrew have is so deep, they share their words and art with each other, and you can feel it through every single line. Some of the monsters, especially the thistle fairies, were genuinely scary and I found the illustrations really effective. The idea that Andrew's words and Thomas's art brought them to life is so original and genuinely scary because it's their coping mechanisms. I love the combination of YA and horror here, Thomas and Andrew feel so young sometimes and I think the balance is handled powerfully. The ending threw me a little as it’s so vague and cuts off suddenly, I wish we’d had more of a clear conclusion, but I loved the twist. A brilliant, haunting book!

YA is something I am very selective with these days.
But queer gothic horror in an academic setting? Sign me up.
This book was so good 👏
Pure poetry coming off the page, hauntingly beautiful and I could picture everything so clearly.
The illustrations were *chefs kiss*
I want quotes from the book to be put on a monstrous art print and hang it on a wall.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher
5 ⭐️

It's been a few days since I finished this and it's really stuck with me. Part dark academia, part monster horror, part queer YA love story - there's a whole lot going on here but it comes together so well. Andrew arrives back to school, eager to see Thomas after a long summer. But on day one it turns out Thomas's parents are missing. It goes from bad to worse when Andrew finds Thomas fighting a monster brought to life from his drawings in the school forest. Intoxicating and a total headspin by the end, I loved every minute of this. It brought out all of the big feelings, I came away both teary and questioning everything.

Don't Let the Forest In follows Andrew, a young man at an elite private school who discovers that his closest (and only) friend, Thomas, is accidentally bringing monsters to life through his art. When Andrew catches Thomas fighting a creature in the forest outside their school, he vows to help him by fighting the monsters each night - but when the monsters keep coming, and the attacks become more dangerous and more vicious, the two begin to wonder if they need to do something more drastic to stop the attacks once and for all.

Words cannot express my love for this book. It's been so long since I became so completely engrossed in a story, but the combination of realistic representation (with an asexual, queer protagonist) with a stunning love story and a plot that seamlessly blends fantasy with reality is unlike anything else I've read recently.

There aren't a huge amount of characters in this story, but the ones that the author takes time to explore - mainly Andrew, Thomas, and Andrew's sister, Dove - are all so unique and well-developed that it makes up for it. I especially loved Thomas, and the way we see him entirely through Andrew's love-struck eyes.

As a fan of gothic horror, I was also SO impressed by the dark fairytale-esque monsters and the sometimes gruesome scenes that occurred when Andrew and Thomas encountered them. On top of that, both the boarding school setting and the forest setting have certainly been well-used in dark YA in recent years, but even they felt fresh and especially creepy in DON'T LET THE FOREST IN.

I absolutely adored this book, and have already started recommending to everyone who'll listen. If you like fairytales, horror, thrillers, or any kind of dark YA, you'll love this.

I had high hopes for this book, and it has more than exceeded them. The plot alone is intriguing with gut wrenching twists, one which is fed in throughout the book and when it hit me, it really hit me with a devastating blow. What takes this book to the next level is Drews incredible, poetic writing style, not just the words themselves but the layout as well, I really enjoyed these little details and it definitely enhanced the experience. On top of this you've got absolutely horrifyingly beautiful illustrations throughout. Sexuality and mental health is very well represented, in a sensitive yet realistic manner. It's dark and at some times traumatic, it makes you feel intensely for Andrew and just want to scoop him up and tell him he's going to be ok.
I've never felt grief, depression and eating disorders represented so well, using 'inner monsters' come to life to explain the horror & catastrophe it can feel like to the person experiencing it.
C.G Drews will now be an auto buy author for me and I'm very excited to get my hands on their future work.

This book is dark. Really dark. Think 'Pan's Labyrinth' type fantasy. Darker than the kind of book I usually read if I'm honest and I nearly had to stop reading it more than once because of violent images but yet the characters and the story were so complelling I felt as though if I didn't finish reading it to its conclusion then I would be forever haunted (if you read this book then you'll be able to see how well that turned out for me)! The obsessive creative, fantastical world that the two boys create is so very disturbing yet weirdly beautiful. Their characters so well drawn, the plot so unexpected. Read it if you dare!

This book surprised me! It's a dark, atmospheric fantasy set in a boarding school plagued by horrors both human and otherworldly. The story’s vivid, unsettling imagery creates a dreamlike yet disturbing atmosphere. While the focus on style sometimes overshadows clarity, the writing is undeniably captivating. The ambiguous ending may frustrate some readers, but its unresolved nature adds to the story’s haunting quality. I would certainly recommend!

When the monsters within are feeding nightmares that can walk the waking world, what can you do? Don't Let the Forest In is a chilling dark fantasy set in a boarding school with a host of problems, including creatures who are out for blood...

When Andrew arrives for his senior year, he expects a hard time. He's been bullied for years, he's in love with his best friend Thomas, and his anxiety has him constantly spiraling. However, he didn't expect these to be the least of his worries - it's the horrific beasts coming from the forest he must survive.

This is a twisted fairytale gone very very wrong, and it's beautiful and ugly and will definitely get you thinking. The whole story keeps you guessing about what's going on and bends reality in ways that will keep you guessing. I ended up guessing one of the reveals about halfway through but this didn't lessen the impact at all. This book hits hard, and while there are some issues I found it powerful.

Often this struggles with focusing on style over substance, but the imagery is so visceral I didn't really mind. The writing is stunning and flowery and creates the perfect atmosphere for the narrative. My bigger problem was the ending. I read the final few pages about five times and still have no clue what actually happened. While ambiguity can be effective, in this case it let me down. But maybe this fits with Andrew never finishing his stories?

The book deals with some really serious content including sexuality, bullying, abuse, broken families, financial structures, grief, self harm, EDs, and more. It doesn't offer easy answers or positive/constructive thinking - it presents the situations grimly and without any wish to 'fix' them. In a way, this is actually refreshing. It captures the darkness of our worst thoughts and actions and wishes, and doesn't sugar coat anything. It makes you ponder the discomfort you feel, so prepare for complex characters and inner monsters to be faced.